Pupils at a new primary school which sits alongside an award-winning community under development in Shropshire, now have the chance to experience life as a builder following the delivery of a set of mini construction vehicles.
They have been donated to Allscott Meads Primary School by the contractor constructing the new homes and its plant machinery provider.
SJ Roberts Construction which recently built the school, is on-site next to the school constructing the second phase of the Allscott Meads community and with pupils now learning at the school, there’s a captive audience monitoring progress on site.
Matthew Roberts, construction director at SJ Roberts Construction, said: “Having been instrumental in the construction of the new school, it’s great to now see the first pupils benefit from the fantastic facilities on offer to them.
“Of course, Allscott Meads isn’t ‘just’ a new housing development; it holds a huge amount of history with its background as the home of British Sugar’s sugar beet factory, so it offers pupils plenty of learning opportunities.
“As a live development, we recognised though that many of the younger pupils would be fascinated with the construction vehicles on site and so it’s been a pleasure to partner with Ridgway Rentals who provide our own full-sized plant equipment to contribute to the children’s play-based learning with this set of mini vehicles and associated safety kit.”
The pupils at Allscott Meads Primary have received a set of mini vehicles that includes ride-on JCB excavators, dumpers and tractors – supplied by the same company that provides the full-sized plant equipment on site at Allscott, Oswestry-based Ridgway Rentals.
Additionally, SJ Roberts Construction has provided the school with mini hard hats, high-vis jackets, building blocks and play tables.
Kirsty Parkinson, headteacher at Allscott Meads Primary School, said: “Our pupils are already so lucky to have access to such wonderful facilities in this brand-new school, but with construction on-going, this adds to their fascination with what’s going on around them.
“The younger pupils in particular love nothing more than learning through play and there are many well-documented benefits of doing so.
“Having access to quality, realistic and size-appropriate equipment such as these construction vehicles is simply fantastic and we’re hugely grateful to the team at SJ Roberts and its partners for donating these to them.
“The children love them and, who knows, maybe there’s a future housebuilder amongst our current pupils.”
